Infant Travel: Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children
Jan 15, 2018, 8:28 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 1
Infant Travel: Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children
Hi all,
I wanted to report a negative experience I am having with Hong Kong Airlines, just in case anyone was thinking about travelling with their infant. If you will be, I strongly advise against using Hong Kong Airlines as they have made it clear repeatedly that they discriminate against people with children. My experience is below. If you do decide to use Hong Kong Airlines, all I can say is caveat emptor...
My wife and I have been planning a trip for quite some time so we can bring our son Henry to visit my wife's family in China for the Chinese New Years. At the time of travel, Henry will be 11 months old and we are hoping it will be his first time visiting his grand parents and my wife's side of the family. My wife is currently studying for the medical boards, so money is tight since she does not have income. We found round trip tickets online for $460 per person including all taxes and fees and thought this was a reasonable deal. After calling many airlines it appeared that an additional 10% of the adult ticket purchased was the standard cost to also bring a lap, so the deal seemed reasonable.
After booking the ticket I called Hong Kong Airlines back and they changed their story to say that the ticket will be significantly more expensive. A fellow named Roland at the call center told me cost for the infant ticket would be 2414 HKD ($308.53 USD) if he applied special one-time discounts. This seemed amazing to me they would charge me more than 2/3 of the cost of an adult ticket just to bring Henry on the plane and be able to hold him. If I want a seat for Henry the price goes up even higher -- 67% of the adult fare is just to be able to hold him on my lap for the entire flight!
At first, Roland's justification for the higher fair was that since I purchased the ticket through a travel agent, my fare would not apply to the infant. Upon him telling me this, I checked the Hong Kong Airlines website, where I found that the "Retail price" directly from HK Air was 4070.60HKD ($507 USD) including taxes and fees. I told Roland that even if it were 10% of 4070.60 HKD, that would not total 2414HKD. Roland's rebuttal was that for people that have infants, their adult ticket would cost 8500HKD and not 4070.60HKD, and it was only 2414HKD and not much more because he was offering me a special price. I was appalled -- how can an airline discriminate against people who have children by not allowing them to buy infant tickets unless they spend twice as much on their own tickets! I asked Roland a few times about Hong Kong Airline's discrimination against people with children, only to receive the same information from him every time.
Increasingly frustrated, both in terms of his lack of customer service and difficulty in communicating with, I asked Roland more than 30 times to provide me with the name and phone number of his boss so I can contact them directly. Every time Roland refused, saying he is a supervisor and at best his boss would call me back.
The next day I received a call back from Hong Kong Airlines. Expecting someone superior to Roland, the call from was from another call center representative at the same level as Roland. 30 minutes on the phone with the representative and the same story -- Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by making them pay twice as much for their own ticket, just for the privilege to then pay more money to be able to hold their infant on the plane. Same bottom line -- a person with no children pays $460 USD, but if he has a lap child he is not eligible for that ticket. I told the agent this was unacceptable and once again asked for a manager, only to be told I will receive a call back from corporate.
The same exercise occurred yet again, except after 5 more days of not hearing back. After 5 days I decided to follow up and call. The call center told me a fellow named Thomas was working on my case and will contact me as soon as he gets in. Two more days pass and I call back again and finally get in touch with Thomas only to find out that he is yet another employee from the call center and not even from corporate. He tells me the same story about Hong Kong Airlines discriminating against people with children. I tell him that I will take my story to social media if I do not hear from corporate by the end of the day. I finally get an email from corporate stating the same thing -- shady pricing games that ultimately discriminate against people with children.
Right now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hong Kong Airlines is making it such that our son can only meet his grand parents if we pay their "holding a baby on the flight" extortion fee and somehow come up with money that we do not have. Hong Kong Airlines kept telling us they will escalate the case, but in the time that has passed in waiting on their "fair resolution", the reasonably priced flights on other airlines are now gone. We are strongly considering cancelling our trip, which would be heart-breaking to all of us since my wife and Henry would not be able to see their family and vice versa.
In any event, my goal here is not to obtain sympathy for ourselves, but rather to warn other parents considering Hong Kong Airlines. Here are some of my conclusions:
(1) Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by charging them twice as much for their tickets in addition to the infant tickets. The advertised fare of 4070.60HKD for adults becomes 8500HKD if you have children. Same seat and same ticket -- just it becomes twice as much if you have children.
(2) Hong Kong Airlines does not offer transparent pricing. Where one agent might tell you an infant ticket cost 10% of the ticket price of the adult passenger, another agent might then try to charge you closer to 50% of the adult ticket price.
(3) Hong Kong Airlines does not value customer service, as illustrated by me having spent more than 50+ mins on my first call with no resolution. After doing so, I was called back by another call center representative rather than a manager, and spent another 30+ minutes on the phone with her. Four call later and I speak to the "manager on my case" who turns out to be another call center representative, spending another 20 minutes with him. After all this, I get nothing but a low-level email from corporate. I email back to corporate asking them to call me so we can discuss the case and never hear back.
I wanted to report a negative experience I am having with Hong Kong Airlines, just in case anyone was thinking about travelling with their infant. If you will be, I strongly advise against using Hong Kong Airlines as they have made it clear repeatedly that they discriminate against people with children. My experience is below. If you do decide to use Hong Kong Airlines, all I can say is caveat emptor...
My wife and I have been planning a trip for quite some time so we can bring our son Henry to visit my wife's family in China for the Chinese New Years. At the time of travel, Henry will be 11 months old and we are hoping it will be his first time visiting his grand parents and my wife's side of the family. My wife is currently studying for the medical boards, so money is tight since she does not have income. We found round trip tickets online for $460 per person including all taxes and fees and thought this was a reasonable deal. After calling many airlines it appeared that an additional 10% of the adult ticket purchased was the standard cost to also bring a lap, so the deal seemed reasonable.
After booking the ticket I called Hong Kong Airlines back and they changed their story to say that the ticket will be significantly more expensive. A fellow named Roland at the call center told me cost for the infant ticket would be 2414 HKD ($308.53 USD) if he applied special one-time discounts. This seemed amazing to me they would charge me more than 2/3 of the cost of an adult ticket just to bring Henry on the plane and be able to hold him. If I want a seat for Henry the price goes up even higher -- 67% of the adult fare is just to be able to hold him on my lap for the entire flight!
At first, Roland's justification for the higher fair was that since I purchased the ticket through a travel agent, my fare would not apply to the infant. Upon him telling me this, I checked the Hong Kong Airlines website, where I found that the "Retail price" directly from HK Air was 4070.60HKD ($507 USD) including taxes and fees. I told Roland that even if it were 10% of 4070.60 HKD, that would not total 2414HKD. Roland's rebuttal was that for people that have infants, their adult ticket would cost 8500HKD and not 4070.60HKD, and it was only 2414HKD and not much more because he was offering me a special price. I was appalled -- how can an airline discriminate against people who have children by not allowing them to buy infant tickets unless they spend twice as much on their own tickets! I asked Roland a few times about Hong Kong Airline's discrimination against people with children, only to receive the same information from him every time.
Increasingly frustrated, both in terms of his lack of customer service and difficulty in communicating with, I asked Roland more than 30 times to provide me with the name and phone number of his boss so I can contact them directly. Every time Roland refused, saying he is a supervisor and at best his boss would call me back.
The next day I received a call back from Hong Kong Airlines. Expecting someone superior to Roland, the call from was from another call center representative at the same level as Roland. 30 minutes on the phone with the representative and the same story -- Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by making them pay twice as much for their own ticket, just for the privilege to then pay more money to be able to hold their infant on the plane. Same bottom line -- a person with no children pays $460 USD, but if he has a lap child he is not eligible for that ticket. I told the agent this was unacceptable and once again asked for a manager, only to be told I will receive a call back from corporate.
The same exercise occurred yet again, except after 5 more days of not hearing back. After 5 days I decided to follow up and call. The call center told me a fellow named Thomas was working on my case and will contact me as soon as he gets in. Two more days pass and I call back again and finally get in touch with Thomas only to find out that he is yet another employee from the call center and not even from corporate. He tells me the same story about Hong Kong Airlines discriminating against people with children. I tell him that I will take my story to social media if I do not hear from corporate by the end of the day. I finally get an email from corporate stating the same thing -- shady pricing games that ultimately discriminate against people with children.
Right now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hong Kong Airlines is making it such that our son can only meet his grand parents if we pay their "holding a baby on the flight" extortion fee and somehow come up with money that we do not have. Hong Kong Airlines kept telling us they will escalate the case, but in the time that has passed in waiting on their "fair resolution", the reasonably priced flights on other airlines are now gone. We are strongly considering cancelling our trip, which would be heart-breaking to all of us since my wife and Henry would not be able to see their family and vice versa.
In any event, my goal here is not to obtain sympathy for ourselves, but rather to warn other parents considering Hong Kong Airlines. Here are some of my conclusions:
(1) Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by charging them twice as much for their tickets in addition to the infant tickets. The advertised fare of 4070.60HKD for adults becomes 8500HKD if you have children. Same seat and same ticket -- just it becomes twice as much if you have children.
(2) Hong Kong Airlines does not offer transparent pricing. Where one agent might tell you an infant ticket cost 10% of the ticket price of the adult passenger, another agent might then try to charge you closer to 50% of the adult ticket price.
(3) Hong Kong Airlines does not value customer service, as illustrated by me having spent more than 50+ mins on my first call with no resolution. After doing so, I was called back by another call center representative rather than a manager, and spent another 30+ minutes on the phone with her. Four call later and I speak to the "manager on my case" who turns out to be another call center representative, spending another 20 minutes with him. After all this, I get nothing but a low-level email from corporate. I email back to corporate asking them to call me so we can discuss the case and never hear back.
Jan 15, 2018, 8:46 pm
#2
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: on the path to perdition
Programs: Delta, United
Posts: 4,782
Welcome to FT. Sounds as though you bought a deep discount fare that does not allow for a discount for an infant in arms:
Optional services and fees | FAQs Answered | About The Airline
Infant ticket is usually calculated from a discount applied to an adult ticket. If the adult ticket fare of the accompanying adult does not offer an infant discount, the next higher fare that offers the discount will be used as the base for calculation. Calculation of infant ticket price is subject to the law of the country applicable to the ticket being issued.
My advise to parents is to just by your kid a seat - everyone will be happier.
Optional services and fees | FAQs Answered | About The Airline
Infant ticket is usually calculated from a discount applied to an adult ticket. If the adult ticket fare of the accompanying adult does not offer an infant discount, the next higher fare that offers the discount will be used as the base for calculation. Calculation of infant ticket price is subject to the law of the country applicable to the ticket being issued.
My advise to parents is to just by your kid a seat - everyone will be happier.
Last edited by FlyingUnderTheRadar; Jan 16, 2018 at 8:03 pm
Jan 16, 2018, 11:36 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CPH
Programs: UAMP S, TK M&S E (*G), Marriott LTP, IHG P, SK EBG
Posts: 11,075
This is a very typical Hong Kong way of pricing: when you get discounted hotel buffet offers, they will charge you the discount price plus 10% service charge from the FULL price of the buffet. I don't know if it's legal and this has been on for as long as I remembered. In your case I wouldn't see it's discriminating infants but a way to nickle and dime people.
Hong Kong Airlines is owned by Hainan Airlines and it's kind of a full service low fare airlines - we have 3 kids and we have been purchasing infant tickets from various airlines and never encounter problem like this (although they varied from 10% of the all in fare or 10% of base fare plus tax - so we paid around $50-$120 per infant ticket). We always called the airline we want to book with to confirm their infant ticket policy - if you have done that the situation would never have happened.
Hong Kong Airlines is owned by Hainan Airlines and it's kind of a full service low fare airlines - we have 3 kids and we have been purchasing infant tickets from various airlines and never encounter problem like this (although they varied from 10% of the all in fare or 10% of base fare plus tax - so we paid around $50-$120 per infant ticket). We always called the airline we want to book with to confirm their infant ticket policy - if you have done that the situation would never have happened.
Jan 16, 2018, 4:27 pm
#6
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 229
This has clearly upset you. It seems to me that the airline has acted entirely within their terms and conditions. They are not discriminating against parents with children, they are performing the services they say they will for the prices they say they will. It also doesn’t surprise me that you keep getting a call centre supervisor: that is the level of your complaint. Threatening to unload on social media doesn’t advance your cause at all. It has been my observation over many years that as a general rule airlines bend over backwards to accommodate travellers with small children-often to the detriment of other travellers. If the amount you are being asked for is really going to break the bank, then perhaps you should be delaying your trip until next New Year.
Hi all,
I wanted to report a negative experience I am having with Hong Kong Airlines, just in case anyone was thinking about travelling with their infant. If you will be, I strongly advise against using Hong Kong Airlines as they have made it clear repeatedly that they discriminate against people with children. My experience is below. If you do decide to use Hong Kong Airlines, all I can say is caveat emptor...
My wife and I have been planning a trip for quite some time so we can bring our son Henry to visit my wife's family in China for the Chinese New Years. At the time of travel, Henry will be 11 months old and we are hoping it will be his first time visiting his grand parents and my wife's side of the family. My wife is currently studying for the medical boards, so money is tight since she does not have income. We found round trip tickets online for $460 per person including all taxes and fees and thought this was a reasonable deal. After calling many airlines it appeared that an additional 10% of the adult ticket purchased was the standard cost to also bring a lap, so the deal seemed reasonable.
After booking the ticket I called Hong Kong Airlines back and they changed their story to say that the ticket will be significantly more expensive. A fellow named Roland at the call center told me cost for the infant ticket would be 2414 HKD ($308.53 USD) if he applied special one-time discounts. This seemed amazing to me they would charge me more than 2/3 of the cost of an adult ticket just to bring Henry on the plane and be able to hold him. If I want a seat for Henry the price goes up even higher -- 67% of the adult fare is just to be able to hold him on my lap for the entire flight!
At first, Roland's justification for the higher fair was that since I purchased the ticket through a travel agent, my fare would not apply to the infant. Upon him telling me this, I checked the Hong Kong Airlines website, where I found that the "Retail price" directly from HK Air was 4070.60HKD ($507 USD) including taxes and fees. I told Roland that even if it were 10% of 4070.60 HKD, that would not total 2414HKD. Roland's rebuttal was that for people that have infants, their adult ticket would cost 8500HKD and not 4070.60HKD, and it was only 2414HKD and not much more because he was offering me a special price. I was appalled -- how can an airline discriminate against people who have children by not allowing them to buy infant tickets unless they spend twice as much on their own tickets! I asked Roland a few times about Hong Kong Airline's discrimination against people with children, only to receive the same information from him every time.
Increasingly frustrated, both in terms of his lack of customer service and difficulty in communicating with, I asked Roland more than 30 times to provide me with the name and phone number of his boss so I can contact them directly. Every time Roland refused, saying he is a supervisor and at best his boss would call me back.
The next day I received a call back from Hong Kong Airlines. Expecting someone superior to Roland, the call from was from another call center representative at the same level as Roland. 30 minutes on the phone with the representative and the same story -- Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by making them pay twice as much for their own ticket, just for the privilege to then pay more money to be able to hold their infant on the plane. Same bottom line -- a person with no children pays $460 USD, but if he has a lap child he is not eligible for that ticket. I told the agent this was unacceptable and once again asked for a manager, only to be told I will receive a call back from corporate.
The same exercise occurred yet again, except after 5 more days of not hearing back. After 5 days I decided to follow up and call. The call center told me a fellow named Thomas was working on my case and will contact me as soon as he gets in. Two more days pass and I call back again and finally get in touch with Thomas only to find out that he is yet another employee from the call center and not even from corporate. He tells me the same story about Hong Kong Airlines discriminating against people with children. I tell him that I will take my story to social media if I do not hear from corporate by the end of the day. I finally get an email from corporate stating the same thing -- shady pricing games that ultimately discriminate against people with children.
Right now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hong Kong Airlines is making it such that our son can only meet his grand parents if we pay their "holding a baby on the flight" extortion fee and somehow come up with money that we do not have. Hong Kong Airlines kept telling us they will escalate the case, but in the time that has passed in waiting on their "fair resolution", the reasonably priced flights on other airlines are now gone. We are strongly considering cancelling our trip, which would be heart-breaking to all of us since my wife and Henry would not be able to see their family and vice versa.
In any event, my goal here is not to obtain sympathy for ourselves, but rather to warn other parents considering Hong Kong Airlines. Here are some of my conclusions:
(1) Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by charging them twice as much for their tickets in addition to the infant tickets. The advertised fare of 4070.60HKD for adults becomes 8500HKD if you have children. Same seat and same ticket -- just it becomes twice as much if you have children.
(2) Hong Kong Airlines does not offer transparent pricing. Where one agent might tell you an infant ticket cost 10% of the ticket price of the adult passenger, another agent might then try to charge you closer to 50% of the adult ticket price.
(3) Hong Kong Airlines does not value customer service, as illustrated by me having spent more than 50+ mins on my first call with no resolution. After doing so, I was called back by another call center representative rather than a manager, and spent another 30+ minutes on the phone with her. Four call later and I speak to the "manager on my case" who turns out to be another call center representative, spending another 20 minutes with him. After all this, I get nothing but a low-level email from corporate. I email back to corporate asking them to call me so we can discuss the case and never hear back.
I wanted to report a negative experience I am having with Hong Kong Airlines, just in case anyone was thinking about travelling with their infant. If you will be, I strongly advise against using Hong Kong Airlines as they have made it clear repeatedly that they discriminate against people with children. My experience is below. If you do decide to use Hong Kong Airlines, all I can say is caveat emptor...
My wife and I have been planning a trip for quite some time so we can bring our son Henry to visit my wife's family in China for the Chinese New Years. At the time of travel, Henry will be 11 months old and we are hoping it will be his first time visiting his grand parents and my wife's side of the family. My wife is currently studying for the medical boards, so money is tight since she does not have income. We found round trip tickets online for $460 per person including all taxes and fees and thought this was a reasonable deal. After calling many airlines it appeared that an additional 10% of the adult ticket purchased was the standard cost to also bring a lap, so the deal seemed reasonable.
After booking the ticket I called Hong Kong Airlines back and they changed their story to say that the ticket will be significantly more expensive. A fellow named Roland at the call center told me cost for the infant ticket would be 2414 HKD ($308.53 USD) if he applied special one-time discounts. This seemed amazing to me they would charge me more than 2/3 of the cost of an adult ticket just to bring Henry on the plane and be able to hold him. If I want a seat for Henry the price goes up even higher -- 67% of the adult fare is just to be able to hold him on my lap for the entire flight!
At first, Roland's justification for the higher fair was that since I purchased the ticket through a travel agent, my fare would not apply to the infant. Upon him telling me this, I checked the Hong Kong Airlines website, where I found that the "Retail price" directly from HK Air was 4070.60HKD ($507 USD) including taxes and fees. I told Roland that even if it were 10% of 4070.60 HKD, that would not total 2414HKD. Roland's rebuttal was that for people that have infants, their adult ticket would cost 8500HKD and not 4070.60HKD, and it was only 2414HKD and not much more because he was offering me a special price. I was appalled -- how can an airline discriminate against people who have children by not allowing them to buy infant tickets unless they spend twice as much on their own tickets! I asked Roland a few times about Hong Kong Airline's discrimination against people with children, only to receive the same information from him every time.
Increasingly frustrated, both in terms of his lack of customer service and difficulty in communicating with, I asked Roland more than 30 times to provide me with the name and phone number of his boss so I can contact them directly. Every time Roland refused, saying he is a supervisor and at best his boss would call me back.
The next day I received a call back from Hong Kong Airlines. Expecting someone superior to Roland, the call from was from another call center representative at the same level as Roland. 30 minutes on the phone with the representative and the same story -- Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by making them pay twice as much for their own ticket, just for the privilege to then pay more money to be able to hold their infant on the plane. Same bottom line -- a person with no children pays $460 USD, but if he has a lap child he is not eligible for that ticket. I told the agent this was unacceptable and once again asked for a manager, only to be told I will receive a call back from corporate.
The same exercise occurred yet again, except after 5 more days of not hearing back. After 5 days I decided to follow up and call. The call center told me a fellow named Thomas was working on my case and will contact me as soon as he gets in. Two more days pass and I call back again and finally get in touch with Thomas only to find out that he is yet another employee from the call center and not even from corporate. He tells me the same story about Hong Kong Airlines discriminating against people with children. I tell him that I will take my story to social media if I do not hear from corporate by the end of the day. I finally get an email from corporate stating the same thing -- shady pricing games that ultimately discriminate against people with children.
Right now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hong Kong Airlines is making it such that our son can only meet his grand parents if we pay their "holding a baby on the flight" extortion fee and somehow come up with money that we do not have. Hong Kong Airlines kept telling us they will escalate the case, but in the time that has passed in waiting on their "fair resolution", the reasonably priced flights on other airlines are now gone. We are strongly considering cancelling our trip, which would be heart-breaking to all of us since my wife and Henry would not be able to see their family and vice versa.
In any event, my goal here is not to obtain sympathy for ourselves, but rather to warn other parents considering Hong Kong Airlines. Here are some of my conclusions:
(1) Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by charging them twice as much for their tickets in addition to the infant tickets. The advertised fare of 4070.60HKD for adults becomes 8500HKD if you have children. Same seat and same ticket -- just it becomes twice as much if you have children.
(2) Hong Kong Airlines does not offer transparent pricing. Where one agent might tell you an infant ticket cost 10% of the ticket price of the adult passenger, another agent might then try to charge you closer to 50% of the adult ticket price.
(3) Hong Kong Airlines does not value customer service, as illustrated by me having spent more than 50+ mins on my first call with no resolution. After doing so, I was called back by another call center representative rather than a manager, and spent another 30+ minutes on the phone with her. Four call later and I speak to the "manager on my case" who turns out to be another call center representative, spending another 20 minutes with him. After all this, I get nothing but a low-level email from corporate. I email back to corporate asking them to call me so we can discuss the case and never hear back.
Jan 17, 2018, 3:46 am
#9
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,778
CX/KA charges 10% of full fare also (CX 25% for North America routes)
I'd be surprised if they respond tho - normally it takes some occupation of aircraft or obstruction or runway to get their CS to respond - typical PRC company service levels (don't be fooled by the name - their ownership is Chinese and their passengers are more PRC than HK). Let me know if you hear back from them.
Jan 17, 2018, 10:47 pm
#10
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Indonesia
Programs: AY, GA, SQ, IHG, SPG
Posts: 135
Sorry to hear about your issues with HX. I flown with an infant on various airlines and I agree that the infant ticketing policies doesn't always seem logical. I have flown with HX without issues (the infant ticket was significantly cheaper than the adult ticket), I have also flown with CX only to realize that the infant ticket costs exactly the same as the cheapest adult economy ticket minus 200HKD in taxes. Even AirAsia offers infant tickets for nominal prices. Although personally I give a certain big(ish) value for direct flights and flight schedules when flying with kids/infants.
On a side note just booked a ticket from Singapore to Bali on Scoot and adult and child tickets were 59SGD while an infant ticket was 75SGD. It's sort of comical that my infant pays the most and doesn't even get her own seat or luggage allowance. My advise is to always check the total cost in advance to avoid disappointments.
On a side note just booked a ticket from Singapore to Bali on Scoot and adult and child tickets were 59SGD while an infant ticket was 75SGD. It's sort of comical that my infant pays the most and doesn't even get her own seat or luggage allowance. My advise is to always check the total cost in advance to avoid disappointments.
Jan 17, 2018, 11:23 pm
#11
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 6,334
Hi all,
.
My wife and I have been planning a trip for quite some time so we can bring our son Henry to visit my wife's family in China for the Chinese New Years. At the time of travel, Henry will be 11 months old and we are hoping it will be his first time visiting his grand parents and my wife's side of the family. My wife is currently studying for the medical boards, so money is tight since she does not have income. We found round trip tickets online for $460 per person including all taxes and fees and thought this was a reasonable deal. After calling many airlines it appeared that an additional 10% of the adult ticket purchased was the standard cost to also bring a lap, so the deal seemed reasonable.
After booking the ticket I called Hong Kong Airlines back and they changed their story to say that the ticket will be significantly more expensive. A fellow named Roland at the call center told me cost for the infant ticket would be 2414 HKD ($308.53 USD) if he applied special one-time discounts. This seemed amazing to me they would charge me more than 2/3 of the cost of an adult ticket just to bring Henry on the plane and be able to hold him. If I want a seat for Henry the price goes up even higher -- 67% of the adult fare is just to be able to hold him on my lap for the entire flight!
..
.
My wife and I have been planning a trip for quite some time so we can bring our son Henry to visit my wife's family in China for the Chinese New Years. At the time of travel, Henry will be 11 months old and we are hoping it will be his first time visiting his grand parents and my wife's side of the family. My wife is currently studying for the medical boards, so money is tight since she does not have income. We found round trip tickets online for $460 per person including all taxes and fees and thought this was a reasonable deal. After calling many airlines it appeared that an additional 10% of the adult ticket purchased was the standard cost to also bring a lap, so the deal seemed reasonable.
After booking the ticket I called Hong Kong Airlines back and they changed their story to say that the ticket will be significantly more expensive. A fellow named Roland at the call center told me cost for the infant ticket would be 2414 HKD ($308.53 USD) if he applied special one-time discounts. This seemed amazing to me they would charge me more than 2/3 of the cost of an adult ticket just to bring Henry on the plane and be able to hold him. If I want a seat for Henry the price goes up even higher -- 67% of the adult fare is just to be able to hold him on my lap for the entire flight!
..
I'm sorry, but it seems you took a general conclusion (not based on your specific situation) and assumed that applied in ALL cases.....
Jan 18, 2018, 12:43 am
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: ZOA, SFO, HKG
Programs: UA 1K 0.9MM, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Hertz PC, SBux Gold, TSA Pre✓
Posts: 13,811
Per your own encounter, HX has not admitted that they discriminate against people with children.
Simply because you pay for a ticket does not mean you are entitled to everything.
A person with no children pays $460 USD because the airline will only transport that person. A person with children can still pays $460 with additional for the children.
Bottom line - unless you can show you are quoted exactly what you have claimed you need to pay to HX for the lap child, you have no case at all.
(1) Hong Kong Airlines discriminates against people with children by charging them twice as much for their tickets in addition to the infant tickets. The advertised fare of 4070.60HKD for adults becomes 8500HKD if you have children. Same seat and same ticket -- just it becomes twice as much if you have children.
Per your story, HX is still honoring the tickets purchased. However - in order to have a lap child, the parent will need to pay HKD$2,414, a portion based on the HKD$8,500 fare. In the absence of any contrary evidence that you are ever quoted for the lap child fare by HX, I hardly can see why HX is at faulyt.
Also:
1. CS is virtually non-existence in the airline industry. This actually includes all purported 5-star airlines.
2. When you can't prove that HX is at fault, how can HX resolve the issue?
Jan 18, 2018, 2:20 am
#13
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,778
I think the calculation is wrong tho - although HX doesn't publish applicable infant fare on website directly, I was able to google a couple of fare rules where the % was 10%. How do you arrive at 2,414 from 8,500 with 10%?
I'm not able to generate a published fare for >7,900 for HK-Mainland on HX over 2018 CNY with EF either...
I just done a dummy phone booking
HKG-CGQ-HKG 24/2-1/3
Adult fare: $3,705
11-month old fare: $595 (damn...I forgot to ask calculation basis)
I'm not able to generate a published fare for >7,900 for HK-Mainland on HX over 2018 CNY with EF either...
I just done a dummy phone booking
HKG-CGQ-HKG 24/2-1/3
Adult fare: $3,705
11-month old fare: $595 (damn...I forgot to ask calculation basis)
Last edited by percysmith; Jan 18, 2018 at 2:55 am
Jan 22, 2018, 3:52 am
#15
Join Date: Oct 2012
Programs: Dynasty Frequent Flyer (Elite Plus),Accor Platinum
Posts: 1,866
Our son is approaching 2 years of age but he has flown 4 return flights long distance already. Each time we paid 10 percent of the full fare for adult In economy/premium economy and business class. So its normal that if you bought an ultra cheap ticket that your infant will cost somewhere between 200-400 USD after taxes.
Its exspensive because when You think about it the airlines all have the same policy or close to it. Also if you think about it they can be niosy and as well on long haul flights they usually will get their own personal bed for sleeping
.
What I didn't like is they can't register for airline membership until 2 years of age. Anyway time to get him signed up and earn miles.. Start them while they are young.
Its exspensive because when You think about it the airlines all have the same policy or close to it. Also if you think about it they can be niosy and as well on long haul flights they usually will get their own personal bed for sleeping
. What I didn't like is they can't register for airline membership until 2 years of age. Anyway time to get him signed up and earn miles.. Start them while they are young
.